Join us in March

[jonclinch]

Hey, folks --

Thanks so much for inviting me to your forum! It'll be an honor and a privilege to take part in this discussion with you.

I've just set up my account, and I suppose I really ought to take a moment to introduce myself more formally and set the stage in relation to my novel and Twain's novel and so forth, but the plain truth is this: I'm in the Toronto airport on day three of my book tour, and I'm just getting some digital housekeeping done in the aftermath of a flight cancellation.

So.

More later.

I'm looking forward to this.

-- Jon

[Everyman]

---

jonclinch wrote:
I'm in the Toronto airport on day three of my book tour, and I'm just getting some digital housekeeping done in the aftermath of a flight cancellation.

---

Jet Blue, might we venture a guess?

We look forward to your full introduction when you have the time.

[jonclinch]

---

Everyman wrote: Jet Blue, might we venture a guess?

---

Oddly enough, no.

Air Canada.

They stalled my flight all day long, while the storm set in and the snow built up and there was at last no alternative but to throw the blasted thing off the schedule altogether...

-- Jon, from an airport hotel in Toronto, hoping to make Philly and prepare a proper introduction tomorrow...

(Then again, a picaresque journey like this Canadian trip of mine might be just the thing to get this discussion started.)

[friery]

---

jonclinch wrote:

---

Everyman wrote: Jet Blue, might we venture a guess?

---

Oddly enough, no.

Air Canada.

They stalled my flight all day long, while the storm set in and the snow built up and there was at last no alternative but to throw the blasted thing off the schedule altogether...

-- Jon, from an airport hotel in Toronto, hoping to make Philly and prepare a proper introduction tomorrow...

(Then again, a picaresque journey like this Canadian trip of mine might be just the thing to get this discussion started.)

---

On the other hand, you could be on a raft...

[ziki]

---

friery wroten the other hand, you could be on a raft...

---

:-)
ziki

[Everyman]

---

jonclinch wrote:
They stalled my flight all day long, while the storm set in and the snow built up and there was at last no alternative but to throw the blasted thing off the schedule altogether.

---

You should have scheduled your return by raft down the Delaware River.

Are you really from Philly? Please give it my regards -- I grew up in first in Phila and then just outside it, near Southampton. Give my regards to William Penn, the Reading Terminal Market (I hope it's still there!), and the site where Strawbridge's used to stand, not to mention that fantastic bookstore on Market Street but why have I forgotten the name? I spent many a happy hour in that bookstore.

[jonclinch]

Actually, I'm an upstate New York native...but I've lived in the Philly suburbs for years and years. It's a great town.

---

Everyman wrote:

---

jonclinch wrote:
They stalled my flight all day long, while the storm set in and the snow built up and there was at last no alternative but to throw the blasted thing off the schedule altogether.

---

You should have scheduled your return by raft down the Delaware River.

Are you really from Philly? Please give it my regards -- I grew up in first in Phila and then just outside it, near Southampton. Give my regards to William Penn, the Reading Terminal Market (I hope it's still there!), and the site where Strawbridge's used to stand, not to mention that fantastic bookstore on Market Street but why have I forgotten the name? I spent many a happy hour in that bookstore.

---

[ziki]

---

jonclinch wrote:I've lived in the Philly suburbs for years and years. It's a great town.

---

Why?
ziki

[jonclinch]

It's an accessible, pedestrian-friendly place with history visible at every turning. The cradle of the revolution and all that. Plus the restaurants are legendary...

---

ziki wrote:

---

jonclinch wrote:I've lived in the Philly suburbs for years and years. It's a great town.

---

Why?
ziki

---

[ziki]

---

jonclinch wrote:
It's an accessible, pedestrian-friendly place with history visible at every turning. The cradle of the revolution and all that. Plus the restaurants are legendary...

---

pedestrian...hmmm, very important... Thanks.
ziki

[fanuzzir]

Jon, could you recommend some of your favorite non-Italian restaurants (being an Italian and a cook, my standards are impossible to satisfy) and weigh in on the pressing non-vegetarian question: where do you find the best cheesesteak?

[chad]

Hi everyone!

I'll try and read the books, but I have a lot going on right now. I have an arrest on my record for trying to leave the country from Philly airport, so I find it to be not that great of a place. But the country has not been American for quite some time or may have lost those qualities we deemed to be American when we first formed a union. That is, we could not have been American and form a union. So, America still stands as an ideal to be achieved, like Camelot, which supposedly rose again during Kennedy's administration. But I imagine Mr. Twain will have more to say about all of this...or maybe jon...

Chad

Message Edited by chad on 03-07-200711:22 AM

[jd]

chad - why are we not able to be American and form a Union? American was founded on freedom of speech and religion I think, but do you have another idea??? - jd

[chad]

I'm not sure we have either of these. Freedom of speech is sometimes used as a playing card in politics? Anyway, I found Fennimore-Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans" to be the best at "getting to the heart" of our struggles. So, it will be with great enthusiasm that I once again read Mark Twain and your book. Thanks for letting me know about this book club!

Chad

Message Edited by chad on 03-07-200711:34 AM

[jonclinch]

I've had exactly one cheesesteak in my life. It was fantastic, but altogether too risky.

So you're not going to let me point you toward a few of those lovely little Italian joints in South Philly? Then never mind.

-- J

---

fanuzzir wrote:
Jon, could you recommend some of your favorite non-Italian restaurants (being an Italian and a cook, my standards are impossible to satisfy) and weigh in on the pressing non-vegetarian question: where do you find the best cheesesteak?

---

[ziki]

Hi, I see you jumped ships, great!

ziki

[ziki]

---

jonclinch wrote:
I've had exactly one cheesesteak in my life. It was fantastic, but altogether too risky.

---

what do you mean risky?
ziki

[jonclinch]

Have you ever seen one? Have you ever considered its caloric and fat and carbohydrate load?

Too risky for me.

---

ziki wrote:

---

jonclinch wrote:
I've had exactly one cheesesteak in my life. It was fantastic, but altogether too risky.

---

what do you mean risky?
ziki

---

[ziki]

---

jonclinch wrote:
Have you ever seen one?

---

No.
Maybe something like this?

http://www.patskingofsteaks.com/

or this
http://www.cheesesteakshop.com/

http://philadelphia.about.com/cs/cheesesteaks/a/cheesesteak.htm

and finally:
http://philadelphia.about.com/library/howto/htmakeacheesesteak.htm

I won't digress anymore cuz this is a chapter for Jon the Chef here on BN but thanks a lot. Now I have some idea.

ziki